The Longview City Council on Thursday approved the master plan for a proposed $87 million sports complex at Roy Morse Park. The vote indicates the council’s support for the facility, but does not formally commit to it.

The master plan compiles a variety of athletic, parks and community features into a document that could then be used to pursue grants and funding, representatives from consultant Hough, Beck and Baird Inc. (HBB) told the council during a workshop.

“This is an opportunity to shoot for the stars, get community support and then figure out what we can achieve,” Councilman Scott Vydra said.

The proposed complex includes a wagon wheel of five softball fields, one full-sized soccer field with multiple “overlays” in the softball outfields, two baseball fields, disc golf field, recreational building, loop trails, playgrounds, picnic areas, pickleball and tennis courts, spray park and fitness areas. At full build-out, it would have two entrances off of Ocean Beach Highway and Mount Solo Road.

If built all at once, the sports complex would likely cost a little more than $87 million, including design and permitting costs, and require an additional two or three parks employees.

About two dozen people attended the workshop Thursday night, many of whom seemed to support the facility.

One woman said she would like to see a greater emphasis on volleyball facilities. Soccer, baseball and softball fields, she said, have been available in the community for a long time.

“You’re overlooking a huge revenue opportunity and a large group of kids and adults,” she said.

Another man said he was worried about possible vagrancy at the park.

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“When you do a big complex like this, which is great, it needs to be used daily so people take care of it,” he said. “The biggest thing is to make sure it gets used and keeps growing and that it’s a communal thing.”

One of the main selling points, the consultants said, is that the fields would be the main sports complex along the Interstate-5 corridor between Seattle and Portland, which could bring in major tournaments.

“The big elephant in the room is funding,” Mayor Don Jensen said.

The city could potentially fully fund the sports facility through a state appropriation, a local bond or a local capital improvement program using a combination of taxes and fees. Other potential partial funding sources include sponsorships, partnerships, grants and volunteers.

HBB estimates that six tournaments would have a total revenue of $2.5 million. That means if Longview hosted a tournament every weekend, there could be a revenue of about $21.7 million. Consultants have previously said that about half of that revenue would benefit Kelso, which hosts the majority of the area’s hotels where the players are likely to spend the night.

If fully funded, the sports complex would likely take about three years to design, permit and build, according to HBB.

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(4) comments

As a homeowner paying too much in taxes: I do not want to pay for this. I'd much rather that money go to clean up our most dangerous neighborhoods that cause drug issues and property theft. I want our area to feel safe and good. Fix highland neighborhood in Longview and S.Kelso neighbohood in Kelso. Thin out your slums, demolish half those homes (too packed). Put in NEW decent housing to accommodate the displaced, and to help our most vulnerable first. We have to do that before building sport playgrounds, or else new money will never want to come in. These impoverished areas make far more people want to never invest or move here (Far more than any sports complex could attract). You can't slap a bandaid on a broken foot, you have to fix the foot first if you want to stand.

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